Cleaning Company New Contracts

[John156i]

Hi everyone, apart from detailing products, I want to start a cleaning company. Mainly cleaning offices and similar premises. I have many family members with excellent experience and an eye for detail and I know my company would be one of the best out there as I've got ideas that would make the company stand out in the good way but what I'm not sure about is getting new contracts.

How should I go about this? I was thinking I'd get the email address for the manager of a company and email him about our company, offer free quote and such but it's not always easy to find an email address for the manager, I want it to be professional, I know how to talk to people and would be confident in person but I need to know the best way to contact potential customers, any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mr D]

To be one of the best you have to learn to win contracts.

Perhaps instead of a manager find the person responsible for contracted services. May be a manager, may be a director, may be lowly staff member.

Free quote?

That's selling your company. Bad move. Make your business stand out from the other half dozen cleaning companies that have rung up that day.

Instead sell a solution to them. Could be they are happy with their current contract. Could be they are tied in for a period of time.

Instead find a problem and sell the solution. They have poorly cleaned offices? They have complaint about staff not turning up?

Contract work can be lucrative. Of course your staff need paying, you pay their travel time between jobs, you cover their annual leave or time off sick / isolating. And you contribute to their pension.
Do not just rely on family.

And the previous contract holder can fight back to get the contract again....

 

[John156i]

To be one of the best you have to learn to win contracts.

Perhaps instead of a manager find the person responsible for contracted services. May be a manager, may be a director, may be lowly staff member.

Free quote?

That's selling your company. Bad move. Make your business stand out from the other half dozen cleaning companies that have rung up that day.

Instead sell a solution to them. Could be they are happy with their current contract. Could be they are tied in for a period of time.

Instead find a problem and sell the solution. They have poorly cleaned offices? They have complaint about staff not turning up?

Contract work can be lucrative. Of course your staff need paying, you pay their travel time between jobs, you cover their annual leave or time off sick / isolating. And you contribute to their pension.
Do not just rely on family.

And the previous contract holder can fight back to get the contract again....

Thank you very much for this answer, that's exactly what I'm aiming for " Offering solution to their problem " Because I have come across 4 different premises in the last month that have huge issues with the cleaning companies they're working with now and I know exactly what the problems are, incorrect time scales for specific jobs, a job that simply cannot be done in 2 hours if they want the cleaning to be done correctly, useless cleaning products, wrong organisation skills etc..


I've noticed so many issues with many companies lately and this is the first thing I thought I'd base my company on, being the one company that does it all correctly, I don't want to be the cheapest I want to be the best quality cleaning company but what I'm having problems with is that most companies use the m2 of the premises to work out the price but it seems way simpler to just work it out by the daily hours needed to clean the premises, if toiletries are to be supplied by them or us etc.. I've tried to find some info online regarding pricing to get some sort of idea how to price the contracts but didn't find much tbh, im wondering if for example a contract would be for 2 hours daily 5 days a week, for me it would cost let's say £17 to pay the employee, products, insurance, what percentage would be decent enough for my profit? As I have no other info to base this on, im completely clueless whether let's say 20% is enough or too low?

 

[Mr D]

Factor in the costs you know you have to cover plus ones you may have to cover. Then add something on top for profit.

Employee - gets 28 days holiday plus figure a number of days off sick in a year and someone else has to cover (and be paid). Figure travel between workplaces. Figure pension payments (if the employee chooses). Figure employer NI. Figure what happens if they quit.

If you can't sell at a price that covers your costs plus a profit then move on. Not everyone wants the service, some want cheap only.